Door catch



Dec. 22, 1925' 1,566,632

- H'. A. SWENSON DOOR CATCH Filed March 18, 1925 iim. @111 V ji PatentedDec. 22, 1925.

UNITED STATES HENRY A. swnnsoif, or ruscrm, cnmroanm.

DOOR CATCH.

Application filed March 18, 1925. Serial. No. 16,362.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. SwENsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Tustin, in the county of Orange and State of California,have invented new and useful Improvements in Door Catches, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to door catches. It is an object of the inventionto provide a door catch which may find utility in cupboards or in anyassociation between a door and a stationary member so that the door maybe firmly secured in one'position or another and may be moved from thatposition merely by exerting sufficient pressure upon the door andwithout manually releasing any parts of the door catch.

The up lication of the door catch herein illustrat is in connection witha cupboard and a hinged door, but from the following description it willbe apparent that this catch might also be useful'in retaining the dotfi'of a room in agopen position against a wa 25 Other objects andadvantages will be made manifest from the following specification of anembodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a perspective of a cupboard having the door catch attached.v

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the cupboard showing the door closed.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section showing the door catch and is taken onthe line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective of one member of the door catch.

Figure 5 is a perspective of a second member of the door catch.

The details of construction and operation are as follows:

The cupboard 1 is provided with a hinged door 2 and a horizontal shelf3, the forward edge of the shelf 3 being set back su'tliciently withinthe cupboard so that the door 2 may close withinthe side walls 4 and 5of the cupboard and the inner face of the door 2 abut against the edgeof the shelf.

A female latch member 6 is secured to the under side of the shelf 3 andcomprises. a flat seat 7 having screw holes 8' and 9, the seat beingflat and adapted to rest agamst the bottom of the shelf. The entirefemale latch member is preferably formed of a slngle piece of springmetal, the ends -of which are turned down to provide side walls 10 and11. The side walls may be tapered upwardly toward the rear end of thelatch member, and at the forward end of the walls they are depressedtoward each other to form a yielding restriction 12 near the opening ormouth 13 at right angles to the seat '7. The extreme forward ends of thewalls are bent outwardly to provide a guideway for the male latch memberhereinafter described.

The male latch member comprises a roughly diamond headed screw 15 whichis adapted to screw into the door 2 in such position that the head 16may be received between the side walls of the female latch member. Thehead 16 is preferably formed with a flat top and afiat bottom parallelwith the top', the top and bottom extending forward of an annularshoulder 17. Vertical recesses 18 and 19 are cut in the sides of thehead and the forward end has a pair of vertical side walls which tapertoward a. vertical edge 20. p i

In the use of'the invention it will be read ily seen that when the malelatch member is screwed into the door 2 and the female latch member issecured to the shelf 3 by means of screws 21, when the door is pushedshut as in Figure 2, the head of the male member will pass between theside of the walls of the female member and the recesses 18 and 19 willbe yieldably engaged by restrictions of the side walls of the femalemember, and the resilient nature of the side walls will tend to causeboth latch members to firmly co-operate in retaining the door in aclosed position. 'Vvhen it is desired to open the door, knob 22 maybegrasped and the door pulled outwardly whereupon the restrictions in thefemale latch member will yield to release the diamond shape head of themale member and the door may be thrown opens It will be noted thatthe-vertical walls of the female latch member will compensate forshrinkage or sag g of either the shelf 3 or the door 2, an furthermorethat the most satisfactory adjustment between the two latch members maybe attained by turning the male screw member in or out so that thediamond shaped head projects the proper distance for engagement with therestriction in the female latch member.

Various changes maybe made without departing from the spirit of theinvention asclaimed. I

What is claimed is: 1. A door catch having a female latch member formedof sheet metal bent to form an elongated flat seat with spaced sidewalls extending directly from the base at right angles thereto, the sidewalls forming a row restriction between the head and the base otthestud. a

2. In a door catch, a female latch member constructed of sheet metalhaving an elongated flat seat, substantially triangularshaped side wallsbent away therefrom at substantiall \right' angles thereto, the sidewalls each orming substantially a right angular triangle and having amouth between the right angular edges extending substantially atright-angles to the seat, the side walls having an inward bend to form ayielding restriction adjacent the mouth formed by the right angularedges.

"In' testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

H. A. SWENSON.

